SAVE THE DATE

TRANSITIONING TO
CHINESE HEGEMONY

This October, join leading legal and industry voices for a series of global breakfast forums
discussing China’s rise as a major force in emerging energy and resource markets. The panel will
provide a business perspective on the impact that China’s diplomatic and economic strategies
are having in Africa, Central Asia, the Pacific and South America.

TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:

DATES:
· The challenges posed by China’s foreign October 17th Toronto
investment strategies Hilton Toronto.

· Creating a transparent market approach in October 19th Washington, DC

The Meridien International Centre.
the competition for assets
October 23rd London
· Dispute resolution across vastly different The Lanesborough Hotel.
legal systems

· The impact that the U.S./China trade war is SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

having on the energy and resource sectors
· Frameworks to successfully engage with
Chinese energy and resource enterprises -
private and state
· Implications and methodology of Belt
and Road
· Robert Amsterdam, Founding Partner
at Amsterdam & Partners LLP, London –
Washington
· Michael Blakiston and Chris Flynn,
Partners at Gilbert + Tobin, Australia
· Stuart Leach, Chief Executive and Co-Founder
at Pagefield Global Counsel, London

PARTICIPANT FIRMS:

Both Amsterdam & Partners and Gilbert + Tobin specialise as advisors in the energy and resource sectors.
Amsterdam and Partners have particular depth of experience in Africa, Central Asia and South America.
Gilbert + Tobin work across all regions with a long history in South East Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

Pagefield Global Counsel is a strategic communications consultancy focused on litigation, crisis

and international affairs.

For more information, contact info@amsterdamandpartners.com

Transitioning to
Chinese Hegemony
For a decade Western governments and media
have fretted about the emergence of China as an
economic and investment power. The time for
fretting has passed. Investors need to adapt to the
new competitive frameworks that are emerging.
In the race for resources in particular, stark
differences have emerged between the approaches
of Western and Chinese investors. In the
calculation of value the Chinese factor in the long
term strategic worth of regional assets - an
investment strategy that sits at odds with the
market oriented financial models that guide most
Western businesses.
This forum will outline practical strategies in
operating in this new environment - head to head
with Chinese competitors or in partnership with
them.
Robert Amsterdam and Chris Flynn have spent
their careers at the frontline of the extractive
industries around the world. They are legal
advisors to governments and major companies
and have observed the shifting ground in the
increasingly competitive market for resources
and assets.
Robert Amsterdam has become a leading advocate
for Western governments to rethink the level of
support they give to their businesses in the struggle
to secure vital energy and mining resources.
Amsterdam lays out the full impact that China’s ‘belt
and road’ policy is having on resource acquisition
and compares the anemic responses of Western
governments. China’s blunt use of diplomatic and
financial muscle to advance the interests of its
companies is heavily distorting the competitive
market and according to Amsterdam creating
dangerous monopolies in certain resource sectors.
Chris Flynn has written and advised extensively on
securing contractual and transactional frameworks
that work across many political systems and cultural
backgrounds. Flynn will discuss Australia’s
experience – the most integrated Western country
with China, as it absorbs the impact that China’s
economic political weight on Australia’s inbound and
outbound investments, as well as its domestic affairs.
Flynn notes that the post-war framework of
international finance, trade and law is changing or
being replaced to accommodate China. For Flynn
Western investors and governments alike need to
urgently take a strategic rather than market-oriented
approach the way they do business.
Stuart Leach is renowned for his expertise in
corporate reputation. He’ll be outlining his best tips
on how to put a company’s reputation centre stage in
any battle for resources. The assignment of a nation’s
natural assets is often a politically charged process.
Leach outlines how a company’s good image, and a
sharpened focus on the weaknesses of an opponent’s,
can sway the politics of any nation. The reputation of
a company, the reputation of the country it is from
and the open legal systems it operates under can b
e a decisive factor in winning business.